Time running out for Bulls

K.C. Johnson, Tribune reporterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

This storyline has been written in fits and starts and updates. But Sunday at the United Center, it stood in stark and full view for all to see at the Bulls' autograph session and open practice for fans.

This training camp has been a disjointed mess.

Management and players insist there is enough time between now and the Oct. 29 season opener against San Antonio to get in game condition, establish a rhythm, jell. And given the Bulls are 5-1 entering Monday's next-to-last exhibition against Orlando, who's to argue?

But with Derrick Rose again sitting out a practice that he had hinted at participating in, not to mention John Salmons and Lindsey Hunter being elsewhere, the practice just underscored the only consistent theme to this camp -- inconsistency.

Rose has missed all but that Pacers game with the inflamed tendon behind his right ankle, and coach Vinny Del Negro basically ruled him out of Monday's game. Tyrus Thomas missed four games with a sore right hip. Salmons has missed time with his wife giving birth to their daughter. Miller and Hunter have been ill.

How bad has it gotten?

Hinrich, who hyperextended his left elbow in London, hadn't planned to practice Sunday. With Rose, Salmons and Hunter out and the fan-friendly workout scheduled, he had to.

"If we think the way we played in the preseason is going to get wins in the regular season, we're fooling ourselves," Hinrich said. "Our schedule is crazy. No question we need time together. That's what the preseason is for, getting used to rotations and each other."

Indeed, with Salmons moving to shooting guard alongside Rose and Hinrich backing up both positions, backcourt chemistry is needed. The front end of the Bulls' schedule features the Spurs and road games against the Celtics, Heat and Cavaliers.

"It's a concern," Hinrich said. "Hopefully we'll get healthy quick. We have to treat this last week like the real deal and start playing at a higher level of intensity."

The Bulls do have five days between their final exhibition game Friday and the opener. But this preseason is starting to resemble the 2007 training camp in which Ben Gordon missed five games with a sprained left ankle, Luol Deng missed two games with a bruised right wrist and Andres Nocioni, Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Joakim Noah and Thomas also nursed minor injuries.

That's not to say the disaster that followed that season is coming. It is to say there have been more aches and pains than seamlessness.

"I don't know if it's ever cohesive enough," Del Negro said. "We have a lot of work to do. This is a time for the team to come together and find continuity, and Derrick has missed a lot."

Noah called Sunday's practice "loose" and said the team has to pick up its intensity. Rose's return would help.

"I still can't lift my leg up that high because of the pressure in landing," Rose said. "Of course I'm worried about being in game shape. But I figure I can fight through and my teammates will help me. I'll be ready soon."